The Cost of Todd Helton

A friend of mine, WVLT-TV sports caster Jeff Archer, tweeted about the total salary that the Colorado Rockies have paid Todd Helton during his MLB career.  Almost $161.5 million for 17 season.  That's about $9,500,000 per season.  I was curious how much that worked out every time he went to the plate (and some other stats).  So, a bit of copying and pasting from Todd's page at Baseball-Reference.com and then a bit of simple spread sheet manipulation gave me the following:

Year	Salary	G	Price / G	PA	Price / PA	AB	Price / AB	R	Price / R
1997	$150,000	35	$4,286	101	$1,485	93	$1,613	13	$11,538
1998	$190,000	152	$1,250	595	$319	530	$358	78	$2,436
1999	$750,000	159	$4,717	657	$1,142	578	$1,298	114	$6,579
2000	$1,300,000	160	$8,125	697	$1,865	580	$2,241	138	$9,420
2001	$4,950,000	159	$31,132	697	$7,102	587	$8,433	132	$37,500
2002	$5,000,000	156	$32,051	668	$7,485	553	$9,042	107	$46,729
2003	$10,600,000	160	$66,250	703	$15,078	583	$18,182	135	$78,519
2004	$11,600,000	154	$75,325	683	$16,984	547	$21,207	115	$100,870
2005	$12,600,000	144	$87,500	626	$20,128	509	$24,754	92	$136,957
2006	$16,600,000	145	$114,483	649	$25,578	546	$30,403	94	$176,596
2007	$16,600,000	154	$107,792	682	$24,340	557	$29,803	86	$193,023
2008	$16,600,000	83	$200,000	361	$45,983	299	$55,518	39	$425,641
2009	$16,600,000	151	$109,934	645	$25,736	544	$30,515	79	$210,127
2010	$17,775,000	118	$150,636	473	$37,579	398	$44,661	48	$370,313
2011	$20,275,000	124	$163,508	491	$41,293	421	$48,159	59	$343,644
2012	$4,900,000	69	$71,014	283	$17,314	240	$20,417	31	$158,065
2013	$5,000,000	121	$41,322	430	$11,628	386	$12,953	41	$121,951
Totals	$161,490,000	2244	$71,965	9441	$17,105	7951	$20,311	1401	$115,268

Year	Salary	H	Price / H	HR	Price / HR	RBI	Price / RBI	TB	Price / Base
1997	$150,000	26	$5,769	5	$30,000	11	$13,636	45	$3,333
1998	$190,000	167	$1,138	25	$7,600	97	$1,959	281	$676
1999	$750,000	185	$4,054	35	$21,429	113	$6,637	339	$2,212
2000	$1,300,000	216	$6,019	42	$30,952	147	$8,844	405	$3,210
2001	$4,950,000	197	$25,127	49	$101,020	146	$33,904	402	$12,313
2002	$5,000,000	182	$27,473	30	$166,667	109	$45,872	319	$15,674
2003	$10,600,000	209	$50,718	33	$321,212	117	$90,598	367	$28,883
2004	$11,600,000	190	$61,053	32	$362,500	96	$120,833	339	$34,218
2005	$12,600,000	163	$77,301	20	$630,000	79	$159,494	272	$46,324
2006	$16,600,000	165	$100,606	15	$1,106,667	81	$204,938	260	$63,846
2007	$16,600,000	178	$93,258	17	$976,471	91	$182,418	275	$60,364
2008	$16,600,000	79	$210,127	7	$2,371,429	29	$572,414	116	$143,103
2009	$16,600,000	177	$93,785	15	$1,106,667	86	$193,023	266	$62,406
2010	$17,775,000	102	$174,265	8	$2,221,875	37	$480,405	146	$121,747
2011	$20,275,000	127	$159,646	14	$1,448,214	69	$293,841	196	$103,444
2012	$4,900,000	57	$85,965	7	$700,000	37	$132,432	96	$51,042
2013	$5,000,000	98	$51,020	15	$333,333	61	$81,967	167	$29,940
Totals	$161,490,000	2518	$64,134	369	$437,642	1406	$114,858	4291	$37,635

The whole spread sheet is here.  It just wouldn't fit nicely on this blog.  I've highlighted the best value for the Rockies in green and the worst value for the Rockies in red.  1998 was Todd's first full season with the team and his salary was still on the low side.  2008 was the year that Todd had some back issues.  Less playing time and no change in salary makes it a bit tough on the Rockies' budget watchers.

Thanks, Todd, for a fun career.

* stats as of September 26, 2013